President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had an unconfortable exchange this week at the Lisbon Book Fair with a protester holding a sign that read “There is genocide in Palestine.”
Here's the position on Gaza adopted by all EU leaders (European Council) on March 20, 2025:
"The European Council deplores the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza, which has caused a large number of civilian casualties in recent air strikes. It deplores the refusal of Hamas to hand over the remaining hostages.
The European Council calls for an immediate return to the full implementation of the ceasefire-hostage release agreement. It stresses the need for progress towards its second phase, with a view to its full implementation leading to the release of all hostages and a permanent end to hostilities.
The European Council recalls the importance of unimpeded access and sustained distribution of humanitarian assistance at scale into and throughout Gaza. This access and distribution, as well as the supply of electricity to Gaza, including for the water desalination plants, must be resumed immediately.
The European Council welcomes the Arab Recovery and Reconstruction Plan endorsed at the Cairo Summit on 4 March 2025. The European Union stands ready to engage with its Arab partners, as well as with other international partners, on that basis.
The European Union remains firmly committed to a lasting and sustainable peace based on the two-state solution. The European Union is ready to contribute to all efforts towards this solution and calls on all parties to refrain from actions that undermine its viability. It will continue to work with regional and international partners to that end. The European Union will continue supporting the Palestinian Authority and its reform agenda." Souce: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-position-situation-middle-east/
Until today I have been an appreciative admirer of Diogo’s work in creating “Portugal Decoded”, which he describes as “a weekly, English-language briefing on the main news and events in Portugal written in the most simple, objective and quick way as possible.” Diogo promises that “You’ll get in-depth information and perspective on the things that really matter.”
Despite this, in the current piece about calls to recognise a Palestinian state, Diogo provides us with “Context” about one of the most covered conflicts in human history. If you haven’t heard about the Hamas invasion of Israel and the atrocities committed by Hamas and the Arabs of Gaza on October 7th. 2023, and Israel’s response, you are dead, just as dead as the Bibas children were when murdered by terrorists who abducted them to Gaza with their mother and killed all three shortly thereafter.
So having decided, gratuitously, to tell us the “Context”, Diogo omits something I find significant, but perhaps he does not. Perhaps he does not regard it as one of “the things that really matter” or perhaps in writing “as quick way as possible” he just forgot? Whatever, there are fifty six people, most now corpses, but some twenty still alive, being held hostage by the Arabs of Gaza. Taking and holding hostages is a war crime and there are millions of people in Israel and around the world who want them freed. Israel maintains that it is prosecuting the war to achieve that goal, but the fact that this group of people have been held hostage and tortured in Gaza seems to have slipped Diogo’s mind. Shame.
I have enjoyed reading and supporting “Portugal Decoded”, until today.
Dear Dr Jonathan Freeman, I’m truly sorry to hear how you feel and that you’ve made this decision. My intention was to provide context for the petition, as presented by its authors and cited in the Portuguese press. I acknowledge that I could have made this clearer, and I’ll be reviewing it as soon as possible. I also want to clarify that I’m not Jorge Branco, who writes a different newsletter. It would be unfair to direct these comments toward him. I hope you’ll reconsider.
I have to say that I am of the exact opinion as the commenter above. We are not here to get this communist promoted agenda thrown in our faces here as well. I sincerely urge you to avoid taking sides in any journalistic endeavours if you want to maintain serious readership.
I don’t believe the original version of this article, as it was written before I revised it, took sides, let alone promoted a “communist agenda.” I won’t engage in a debate about the broader conflict, but one thing is undeniable: there is a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. Acknowledging that in a news article is not about “taking sides” or making a broader political statement - it’s a simple recognition of fact. I also ask that you consider the consistent effort that goes into producing Portugal Decoded every Friday at 6:30 a.m., without fail. I fully recognize that some things can always be framed more clearly, and I’ve consistently been open to revising articles when readers have pointed out inconsistencies - provided it’s done politely and respectfully.
You are not just reporting you are promoting a petition calling for the rewarding of the people who invaded Israel and murdered, kidnapped and killed hostages who they even now refuse to free.
I’m sorry that you feel this way. You’re welcome to unsubscribe at any time, but I kindly ask that you refrain from hostile comments or efforts to influence our editorial direction. A great deal of effort goes into producing this newsletter, and such remarks are both unhelpful and unnecessary.
Sir, you’re doing an excellent job reporting the situation. It’s lost in society that multiple things can be true or accurate simultaneously.
We can acknowledge the terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens are horrible while acknowledging that the response by the Israeli government is tantamount to war crimes against Palestinians.
You’re doing an excellent job and don’t let people being sensitive to simple facts, pressure you from reporting them.
Sorry but I did not come here to read more regurgitated drivel on the Palestine issue that clearly the writer understands nothing about, doesn’t any to understand anything about and is clearly propagating incitement within the international community here. Stay in your lane as they say.
Because you provide a link to the petition calling for the government of Portugal to recognize a Palestinian state your response is at best disingenuous.
You are not simply reporting you are promoting a particular proposition namely that Portugal should recognize a Palestinian state. Beyond that then you re-state an EU statement on the conflict, again not reporting but promoting a specific viewpoint.
There is much that can be argued about both the proposal to grant recognition of statehood to people who invaded, murdered, kidnapped, hold hostage and torture Israeli civilians and about the EU statement but this is not the place to do so.
I simply want to understand how it is that someone who is not Jorge Branco is promoting a specific political stance anonymously - well as it seems, not simply anonymously but apparently as Jorge Branco - and doing so under the banner of Portugal Decoded as though you are him.
Jorge Branco has never been involved with PORTUGAL DECODED. He runs a different newsletter, which you may be confusing with this one. I’m Diogo, the sole author of PORTUGAL DECODED. If there’s still any confusion, I encourage you to reach out to Jorge Branco directly for confirmation. Thank you!
As an American Jew with family in Israel, I too found this article distressing – but that’s *not* the author’s fault; it’s the fault of the “100 personalities” who are willfully blind to the terrorism of Hamas. I look forward to the day when Netanyahu and his cabinet and the leadership of Hamas are in the *same* dock at the *same* war crimes trial. I am deeply disappointed in those – like the 100 personalities – who apparently believe only one side belongs there. But any fault rests with them, not with Dr. Lemos for simply providing an accurate account of what they’ve said and done.
I wrote about how, though I am not at all religious,
“whenever we go to a city in Europe, I make a point of taking the “Jewish Walking Tour.” Here’s the thing about those tours. The guide speaks almost entirely in the past tense. It’s always about who used to gather here or the building that used to stand there, or what some other building used to be. The tour usually ends at some beautifully crafted memorial to those who died in the Holocaust. Paris even has two of those. It turns out there are statistics to back up that feeling of emptiness. Today, there still are fewer Jews in the world — not just in Europe, in the entire world — than there were in 1939.”
One of those walking tours is in Lisbon. Perhaps those 100 personalities should take it.
I’m sorry that you feel this way. You’re welcome to unsubscribe at any time, but I kindly ask that you refrain from hostile comments or efforts to influence our editorial direction. A great deal of effort goes into producing this newsletter, and such remarks are both unhelpful and unnecessary.
“efforts to influence our editorial direction”. At least you acknowledge that it is editorial policy to promote antisemitic messaging in your newsletter. If you feel so strongly about editorial integrity, call it your hate-letter.
Dear Jonathan, Thank you for your comment. As previously noted, the source for this article is a piece by the Portuguese news agency Lusa, which has been widely circulated across the national press. You can read it in full via Diário de Notícias here: https://www.dn.pt/sociedade/personalidades-portuguesas-lançam-petição-pela-palestina.
The purpose of this newsletter is to inform readers about how current events are being discussed within Portugal, including the diverse and sometimes difficult perspectives expressed in Portuguese public discourse about world affairs. To omit such topics would be to withhold a significant part of the national conversation — something I will not do.
I have responded to your views respectfully and have asked that you engage in the same spirit. However, referring to this newsletter as a "hate-letter" again crosses a line. To maintain a constructive and respectful environment for the broader Portugal Decoded community, I cannot allow continued abusive, threatening, or harassing comments.
You are, of course, welcome to unsubscribe at any time. But if this behavior continues, I will have no choice but to block further interaction. I hope you can understand the need to protect the integrity of this space.
Here's the position on Gaza adopted by all EU leaders (European Council) on March 20, 2025:
"The European Council deplores the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza, which has caused a large number of civilian casualties in recent air strikes. It deplores the refusal of Hamas to hand over the remaining hostages.
The European Council calls for an immediate return to the full implementation of the ceasefire-hostage release agreement. It stresses the need for progress towards its second phase, with a view to its full implementation leading to the release of all hostages and a permanent end to hostilities.
The European Council recalls the importance of unimpeded access and sustained distribution of humanitarian assistance at scale into and throughout Gaza. This access and distribution, as well as the supply of electricity to Gaza, including for the water desalination plants, must be resumed immediately.
The European Council welcomes the Arab Recovery and Reconstruction Plan endorsed at the Cairo Summit on 4 March 2025. The European Union stands ready to engage with its Arab partners, as well as with other international partners, on that basis.
The European Union remains firmly committed to a lasting and sustainable peace based on the two-state solution. The European Union is ready to contribute to all efforts towards this solution and calls on all parties to refrain from actions that undermine its viability. It will continue to work with regional and international partners to that end. The European Union will continue supporting the Palestinian Authority and its reform agenda." Souce: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-position-situation-middle-east/
Here’s an alternative viewpoint:
https://open.substack.com/pub/futureofjewish/p/israels-war-cannot-be-won-until-it
Until today I have been an appreciative admirer of Diogo’s work in creating “Portugal Decoded”, which he describes as “a weekly, English-language briefing on the main news and events in Portugal written in the most simple, objective and quick way as possible.” Diogo promises that “You’ll get in-depth information and perspective on the things that really matter.”
Despite this, in the current piece about calls to recognise a Palestinian state, Diogo provides us with “Context” about one of the most covered conflicts in human history. If you haven’t heard about the Hamas invasion of Israel and the atrocities committed by Hamas and the Arabs of Gaza on October 7th. 2023, and Israel’s response, you are dead, just as dead as the Bibas children were when murdered by terrorists who abducted them to Gaza with their mother and killed all three shortly thereafter.
So having decided, gratuitously, to tell us the “Context”, Diogo omits something I find significant, but perhaps he does not. Perhaps he does not regard it as one of “the things that really matter” or perhaps in writing “as quick way as possible” he just forgot? Whatever, there are fifty six people, most now corpses, but some twenty still alive, being held hostage by the Arabs of Gaza. Taking and holding hostages is a war crime and there are millions of people in Israel and around the world who want them freed. Israel maintains that it is prosecuting the war to achieve that goal, but the fact that this group of people have been held hostage and tortured in Gaza seems to have slipped Diogo’s mind. Shame.
I have enjoyed reading and supporting “Portugal Decoded”, until today.
Dear Dr Jonathan Freeman, I’m truly sorry to hear how you feel and that you’ve made this decision. My intention was to provide context for the petition, as presented by its authors and cited in the Portuguese press. I acknowledge that I could have made this clearer, and I’ll be reviewing it as soon as possible. I also want to clarify that I’m not Jorge Branco, who writes a different newsletter. It would be unfair to direct these comments toward him. I hope you’ll reconsider.
I have to say that I am of the exact opinion as the commenter above. We are not here to get this communist promoted agenda thrown in our faces here as well. I sincerely urge you to avoid taking sides in any journalistic endeavours if you want to maintain serious readership.
I don’t believe the original version of this article, as it was written before I revised it, took sides, let alone promoted a “communist agenda.” I won’t engage in a debate about the broader conflict, but one thing is undeniable: there is a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. Acknowledging that in a news article is not about “taking sides” or making a broader political statement - it’s a simple recognition of fact. I also ask that you consider the consistent effort that goes into producing Portugal Decoded every Friday at 6:30 a.m., without fail. I fully recognize that some things can always be framed more clearly, and I’ve consistently been open to revising articles when readers have pointed out inconsistencies - provided it’s done politely and respectfully.
That Diogo is disingenuous at best.
You are not just reporting you are promoting a petition calling for the rewarding of the people who invaded Israel and murdered, kidnapped and killed hostages who they even now refuse to free.
Shame.
The source for this article is an article by the Portuguese news agency Lusa, published in similar terms across the Portuguese press. You can read it here via DN: https://www.dn.pt/sociedade/personalidades-portuguesas-lançam-petição-pela-palestina
I’m sorry that you feel this way. You’re welcome to unsubscribe at any time, but I kindly ask that you refrain from hostile comments or efforts to influence our editorial direction. A great deal of effort goes into producing this newsletter, and such remarks are both unhelpful and unnecessary.
"... promoting a petition calling for the rewarding of the people who invaded Israel and murdered, kidnapped and killed hostages..."
Tell me again, kind doctor, how the IOF/IDF came to be. Zionist terrorists were rewarded with a state.
Caring about human life, regardless of which ethnicity, nationality or religion, is the right thing to do. Not spread hate. Do better!
So you agree with me.
And, incidentally, …
https://open.substack.com/pub/moralclaritynewsletter/p/reprise-recognizing-a-palestinian
And then…
https://open.substack.com/pub/futureofjewish/p/the-israelis-are-the-toughest-and
Sir, you’re doing an excellent job reporting the situation. It’s lost in society that multiple things can be true or accurate simultaneously.
We can acknowledge the terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens are horrible while acknowledging that the response by the Israeli government is tantamount to war crimes against Palestinians.
You’re doing an excellent job and don’t let people being sensitive to simple facts, pressure you from reporting them.
Sorry but I did not come here to read more regurgitated drivel on the Palestine issue that clearly the writer understands nothing about, doesn’t any to understand anything about and is clearly propagating incitement within the international community here. Stay in your lane as they say.
See above.
Because you provide a link to the petition calling for the government of Portugal to recognize a Palestinian state your response is at best disingenuous.
You are not simply reporting you are promoting a particular proposition namely that Portugal should recognize a Palestinian state. Beyond that then you re-state an EU statement on the conflict, again not reporting but promoting a specific viewpoint.
There is much that can be argued about both the proposal to grant recognition of statehood to people who invaded, murdered, kidnapped, hold hostage and torture Israeli civilians and about the EU statement but this is not the place to do so.
I simply want to understand how it is that someone who is not Jorge Branco is promoting a specific political stance anonymously - well as it seems, not simply anonymously but apparently as Jorge Branco - and doing so under the banner of Portugal Decoded as though you are him.
Jorge Branco has never been involved with PORTUGAL DECODED. He runs a different newsletter, which you may be confusing with this one. I’m Diogo, the sole author of PORTUGAL DECODED. If there’s still any confusion, I encourage you to reach out to Jorge Branco directly for confirmation. Thank you!
I had already done so, but thanks for the clarification which I have reflected and apologized for in a post above.
However as you are promoting pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel viewpoints I shall unsubscribe.
As an American Jew with family in Israel, I too found this article distressing – but that’s *not* the author’s fault; it’s the fault of the “100 personalities” who are willfully blind to the terrorism of Hamas. I look forward to the day when Netanyahu and his cabinet and the leadership of Hamas are in the *same* dock at the *same* war crimes trial. I am deeply disappointed in those – like the 100 personalities – who apparently believe only one side belongs there. But any fault rests with them, not with Dr. Lemos for simply providing an accurate account of what they’ve said and done.
Shortly after Oct. 7, I wrote at length about my own feelings of betrayal by people on the Left I thought of as friends: https://richardwexler.medium.com/an-open-letter-to-some-people-i-wanted-to-think-of-as-friends-76f51341bf63
I wrote about how, though I am not at all religious,
“whenever we go to a city in Europe, I make a point of taking the “Jewish Walking Tour.” Here’s the thing about those tours. The guide speaks almost entirely in the past tense. It’s always about who used to gather here or the building that used to stand there, or what some other building used to be. The tour usually ends at some beautifully crafted memorial to those who died in the Holocaust. Paris even has two of those. It turns out there are statistics to back up that feeling of emptiness. Today, there still are fewer Jews in the world — not just in Europe, in the entire world — than there were in 1939.”
One of those walking tours is in Lisbon. Perhaps those 100 personalities should take it.
This is not an ad. It is a news story provided to you for free by PORTUGAL DECODED. The source is an article by the Portuguese news agency Lusa, published in similar terms across the Portuguese press. You can read it here via DN: https://www.dn.pt/sociedade/personalidades-portuguesas-lançam-petição-pela-palestina
I’m sorry that you feel this way. You’re welcome to unsubscribe at any time, but I kindly ask that you refrain from hostile comments or efforts to influence our editorial direction. A great deal of effort goes into producing this newsletter, and such remarks are both unhelpful and unnecessary.
efforts to influence our editorial direction”
“efforts to influence our editorial direction”. At least you acknowledge that it is editorial policy to promote antisemitic messaging in your newsletter. If you feel so strongly about editorial integrity, call it your hate-letter.
Dear Jonathan, Thank you for your comment. As previously noted, the source for this article is a piece by the Portuguese news agency Lusa, which has been widely circulated across the national press. You can read it in full via Diário de Notícias here: https://www.dn.pt/sociedade/personalidades-portuguesas-lançam-petição-pela-palestina.
The purpose of this newsletter is to inform readers about how current events are being discussed within Portugal, including the diverse and sometimes difficult perspectives expressed in Portuguese public discourse about world affairs. To omit such topics would be to withhold a significant part of the national conversation — something I will not do.
I have responded to your views respectfully and have asked that you engage in the same spirit. However, referring to this newsletter as a "hate-letter" again crosses a line. To maintain a constructive and respectful environment for the broader Portugal Decoded community, I cannot allow continued abusive, threatening, or harassing comments.
You are, of course, welcome to unsubscribe at any time. But if this behavior continues, I will have no choice but to block further interaction. I hope you can understand the need to protect the integrity of this space.
Sincerely, PORTUGAL DECODED